WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect people who have experienced or know someone who has been sexually abused.
Prosecutors allege that Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard is a “sexual opportunist” who felt entitled to satisfy his particular sexual preferences in the face of objections from a teenage fan and a young woman.
In her final arguments at the singer’s sexual assault trial, Crown attorney Jill Witkin noted that Hoggard stated that she was confident that the two complainants consented to their sexual encounters in the fall of 2016, but no they could tell how they expressed this consent and had no detailed recollection of what happened.
Witkin also noted a number of similarities in the stories presented by the complainants — two women who have never met or talked to each other — saying they show a pattern in Hoggard’s behavior.
Earlier today, Hoggard’s lawyers told the jury that the musician may have been great and disrespectful to women, but that he is not a “sadistic serial rapist.”
Defense attorney Megan Savard portrayed her client as an insecure, starving rock star who routinely succumbed to the temptation and easy validation of one-night stands for more than a decade of touring with the Hedley band, even when they were in a relationship.
From left, Hoggard, Crown attorney Jill Witkin, Judge Gillian Roberts and members of the jury are shown during Witkin’s closing statement Friday. (Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press)
But he said Hoggard, who was born in the Lower Mainland of BC, did not rape the two complainants in the case, one of whom was 16 at the time.
“He didn’t delight in his struggles, he’s not a monster, he’s a flawed human being,” he said in his final presentation to the jury.
“Her fame and power gave her the ability to engage in harmful behavior and two women were hurt by her cruel approach to their sexual intercourse,” she said.
“But Mr Hoggard is not being tried for breaking hearts or disrespecting women, he is not being tried for being a gentleman with his feelings. He has already admitted it and paid the price.”
Savard argued that the complainants made up the rape allegations because they were “too many and ashamed of the way Mr Hoggard dismissed them” and the stigma of admitting they regretted a consensual encounter was “too painful”.
He also suggested that the complainants “needed a nice story to tell that would allow them to save face” with their close friends and family, and although they initially never planned to contact police in 2018, the pressure to do so -it began to increase.
TARGET | Sex was consensual, Hoggard testified:
Jacob Hoggard states that the sexual encounters were consensual at trial
WARNING: This video contains distressing details Jacob Hoggard of Hedley took the stand in his trial for sexual assault on Tuesday, denying the rape allegations of two women whistleblowers and insisting that both meetings were consensual.
“They had lived with their lies for so long that they had to keep going,” he said.
Hoggard, 37, pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one count of sexual interference, one count of touching the sexual touch of a person under the age of 16.
The Crown alleges that Hoggard repeatedly raped a 16-year-old fan and a young woman in separate incidents in the fall of 2016.
The two women stated that they cried and said no during the meetings, which took place in hotels in the Toronto area.
The youngest complainant, a longtime Hedley fan who met Hoggard at the age of 12, testified that he raped her vaginally and orally and that he tried to do so anally on September 30, 2016. she physically resisted, but Hoggard immobilized her.
The second complainant, an Ottawa woman, testified that she agreed to meet with Hoggard in Toronto to have sex on November 22, 2016. But instead of having consensual sex, she was raped anal, vaginally and orally. , and at one point given by the legs. in the bathroom, he told the court.
They both alleged that Hoggard spat in their mouths, slapped them, and gave them derogatory names. They also said it limited their breathing: the first complainant alleged that he also pushed his face against the pillows, and the second complainant said that he drowned her so much that he feared for his life.
The Ottawa woman also alleged that Hoggard asked her to urinate on him, which she refused to do.
It is also alleged that Hoggard palpated the youngest complainant behind the scenes after a concert by Hedley in Toronto in April 2016, when she was still 15 years old.
Hoggard testified earlier this week that he had consensual and “passionate” sex with each of the complainants.
He acknowledged that some of the acts described by women, such as spitting, slapping and calling them derogatory names, may have happened because they were part of their sexual repertoire.
The jury could begin its deliberations on Tuesday.
Support is available to anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access local crisis lines and support services through this Government of Canada website or he Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you, call 911.